Way back in 1947 when our national flag was hoisted on 14th August declaring our Independence to the world, there were only a handful of graduates in Nagaland. Today, 67 years later, we have hundreds of thousands of graduates, post graduates and doctors in every branch of discipline. But do this generation of educated Nagas know the state of our political existence since 1954? Do they know that our country was invaded in 1954 and 1955 by over fifty three thousand Indian troops and that from that day to this day, the Indian flag, and not our own national flag, has been flying over our country for the past 67 years? Surely, if they had understood these facts, they should have fought against the occupational forces instead of taking a long 67 years political holiday pursuing their own economic benefits in active collaboration with those who have invaded our lands.
After all, only citizens of a country that are totally bereft of any self respect or honor would be collaborating with the enemy while their country lies beneath the boots and flag of that foreign country. Tell me, is there the story of a single nation in human history where the citizens of a country went for a long political holiday when their God apportioned lands were invaded by another country? Did Poland or Czechoslovakia or France go for a Rip Van Winkle slumber when Germany invaded their countries in 1940? Shame on all Nagas who have gone on a political slumber for all these 67 years. Tell me, can a generation really sleep over an invasion of their lands? Yet we still dare to boast that we are a fierce martial nation of this heroic tribe and that heroic tribe! As for our opponents, I personally bear no grudge against any Indian soldier or officer who had been posted to Nagaland by their political bosses with the lie that Nagas are Indians and Nagaland is Indian Territory. But I would surely be most ashamed of them, if I did nothing to oppose their invasion of our lands.
Yesterday, lesser educated Nagas than WE – so called educated but boneless, spineless Nagas- fought the invasion forces with courage and honor. For decades, they were hunted like wild animals suffering all sorts of deprivations and dangers, but they never surrendered our lands to the enemy. Subsequently, but for their valor and resilience, today most of us educated Nagas would most probably be serving as clerks and some small officers under the Assam state of India. After all that was where Nehru and the Congress party of India tried to put us in. But instead of expressing gratitude and respect for the sacrifices of those who opposed Nehru and have kept the fire of resistance still burning, we hardly even so much as give them a glance when we pass them in our streets. Many of them are still alive and are often seen in our streets walking on foot with their walking sticks while we drive past them in our glittering Boleros and Scorpios. No, we never give then even a back glance.
For a change, just stop once and talk to these forgotten heroes of yesteryear about their past lives. They will not tell you what prestigious school or college their parents sent them to in order to get their education. They will instead tell you their stories of how at the tender age of ten, they saw their own mothers shot to death right in front of their eyes by the invading enemy. They will recount how their father’s legs were amputated due to bullet injuries. They will also tell you of how a most handsome elder brother never came back to camp after going off in search of food to feed the starving family. (This true story from Khonoma is but one out of thousands that I have heard). Mentally and physically torn asunder at such tender ages, they had joined the Naga army at the age of 12. At 14 years of age, they had already marched to China to procure arms to carry on the battle for our freedom. Many of them survived and are still there with us. But now they are fighting a more desperate battle of how to sponsor the education of their numerous children so that their children would not experience what their father’s generation had suffered. Their stories you will discover, are worlds apart from that of our own. These fellow Nagas have the same faces as ours. They have also lived their lives in the same Nagaland as us. But our stories and their stories are from two different world’s altogether.
On top of this apathy, what else do we say of them? Yes we say: These Naga political groups (NPGs) have been” wandering in the wilderness without any sense of direction…with their vision…critically impaired by self seeking priorities and greed as the sole agenda in the hearts of all the NPGs.” We also accuse them of committing the Shillong Accord suicide and brand them as the Shillong Accordist. In my research work, I have interviewed many of these people from their camps. And what I have noticed many times inside their kitchens is that in most cases, there is not even a piece of dried meat hanging above their hearths. They are simply surviving by eating dal and rice that are bought with the paltry money sent by villagers as annual taxes. In this context, I would like to ask some questions to our present so called intellectual critics who are today being portrayed as the hope and leaders of Nagaland’s tomorrow. The question is: Where were you sir, when some last pathetically starving national workers were finally cornered and taken to Shillong to sign the Shillong accord? As senior Indian Government officers, would your fellow Nagas have expected too much from you, if you had raised your objections to your guardian Government and resigned on the grounds that that government had gone too far in coercing some of your fellow Nagas to sign the Shillong Accord under such duress? Would such a protest resignation on your part be too great a sacrifice for you to make for your nation? After all, all along your careers, you too had always boasted about your glorious proud Naga ancestry and heritage?
Therefore, in my parting conclusion, both the wrath of God and man are upon us today because we have slept irresponsibly for all 67 years of our lives in total INDIFFERENCE.
